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1912 Snow

"Snowing to a depth of 20 inches on the level from yesterday morning until a little after midnight the blizzard which has gripped Springfield and the entire Southwest breaks all records back to the time the local weather bureau was established in 1887 and beyond, according to a report complied this morning by forecaster John Hazen. Whereas the average annual snowfall in this section of the state is 14 inches, the present blizzard in about 18 hours exceeded this by just 6 inches. The run of bad weather has just about expended itself now, the forecaster says and although a light snow has fallen at intervals throughout today, it is not expected to last longer than tonight.

"The one day blizzard also exceeded the former record for February. This was 16 inches of snowfall in February 1910. It outstripped the record, made on December 15, 1911 when it snowed to a depth of 15 inches, by just 5 inches. The previous February record for one day's snowfall was 11 inches on February 16, 1910...

"...Several [street] cars left the track in various parts of the city and this morning were standing out at the gutter line, snowbound and deserted. These will be placed back on the rails as soon as the lines have been opened up. Other cars will be used in their stead in the meantime...

"Because snow piled up and drifted on the south cornice of the Greene County court house [located on the Public Square at this time] to such an extent that it appeared dangerous, Fire Chief Hiram McLaughlin took precautions to prevent pedestrians being injured by...roping off the sidewalk on the College street side of the building this morning...The Pickwick Carriage and Transfer Company, as well as all others doing a carriage...business had several hundred more calls than could be cared for yesterday and today...It was almost impossible to use the heavy carriages and light buggies were depended upon in making most of the calls...The court room at police headquarter was filled with 'sleepers' early this morning. One gang of fifteen men who had been shoveling snow all night for the Frisco came to headquarters at 3 o'clock this morning to get warm and have their clothes dried out...A number of tramps and wanderers who were housed in the city holdover over night were out to work this morning shoveling paths in several directions from headquarters...Drury and Normal School [SMSU/MSU] closed."

The photograph above is from the Library Center archives. The back says the photo was taken February 22, 1912 on Campbell Avenue.